For all of its recent emphasis on its Surface tablet and the Xbox, Microsoft remains focused on the enterprise, and especially on the cloud—but its consumer offerings are a gateway, Microsoft executives said. Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner opened Microsoft’s 2013 financial analyst meeting by disclosing that more than 55 percent of Microsoft’s revenue comes from the enterprise, a number that he said Microsoft rarely discloses. Other key executives, such as chief executive Steve Ballmer, are expected later in the meeting's day, which runs until 5 PM PDT. that flattened the corporate structure and placed the company’s key technologies in the spotlight, rather than making the individual products the focus. : including Stephen Elop of Nokia, among others.
Countries that have pledged to support Internet freedom should allow technology vendors to report the number of electronic surveillance requests they receive, a tech advocacy group said Thursday. The Global Network Initiative, whose members include Facebook, Google and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has to the 21 governments in the Freedom Online Coalition. The governments include those of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Ireland. As part of the coalition, they have committed to work together to advance Internet freedom. The GNI helps tech companies navigate government pressure that may conflict with privacy and free speech. Other members include Yahoo, Microsoft and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The GNI did not release the text of the letters it sent to the governments.
Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann reassured users that promoted pins won't be "flashy banners or pop-up ads."
The productivity suite for iOS and Android, which Google acquired last year, lets users create and edit Microsoft Office files on their mobile devices.
Is your iPad out of warranty? Hewlett-Packard wants to help. HP updated its SmartFriend support service on Thursday and will now troubleshoot problems with Windows, Android, Chrome OS, OS X, and iOS products, according to a describing the service. “HP is expanding its to provide 1:1 expert support for any brand of PC or tablet,” the company said. The plan previously supported PCs from HP and other vendors, as well as Macs. Users can avail of the service to address general hardware, software, and malware issues. HP says its agents can “remove viruses, improve PC performance, solve software errors, and connect devices to a wireless network with enhanced security.” The support is provided by phone or over the Internet, so don’t expect a technician to trot in and fix your iPad in person. But HP notes it can save you from driving to a store.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has no jurisdiction or legal authority to bring a data breach complaint against an Atlanta medical laboratory, the lab said in a response to FTC charges. The FTC, in an in August against small cancer-screening lab LabMD, acted in a way that was “arbitrary, capricious” and an abuse of discretion, lawyers for the lab wrote in a response to the FTC complaint Thursday. The agency has acted “contrary to constitutional right” and “in excess of statutory jurisdiction,” LabMD’s lawyers said. LabMD, just the second U.S. company to challenge an FTC data-breach complaint, is , the company’s CEO, Mike Daugherty, has said. Daugherty, in a discussion a week ago, accused the agency of making up cybersecurity rules as it moves forward. The FTC “has not published any rules, regulations or other guidelines clarifying and providing any notice, let alone constitutionally adequate notice, of what data-security practices” the agency believes it has authority to enforce, LabMD’s lawyers wrote in the response.
It's like a really terrible version of VH1 Behind the Music, but on Spotify.
Grand Theft Auto V isn’t available on PC. But we’ve got plenty of alternatives so I’m not even mad.
The man who led Nintendo to kick start the home console market died Thursday of pneumonia at a Japanese hospital.
. . In a unique twist, players also have access to sequences in which they play as “the pork side,” hurling their space pigs at the birds instead of the other way around. Additional new gameplay features, including a grappling hook that lets you swing around obstacles using a rope or, if you’re playing as Mr. Binks, his tongue, have also been added to the game. Perhaps the biggest change here is developer Rovio’s approach to monetizing the game. While the base game remains a 99-cent download, the company is taking it squarely into the physical world with a series of 30 small rubber toys that are part of this alternate universe. These “telepods” are sold in packs of two, six, or more. By scanning a QR code on the bottom of the toys, players can import new characters (with new powers) into the game. Those who want to stick with the old methods can purchase in-game currency or earn it the hard way, by grinding through levels in a quest for credits. This can then be spent on the new characters, but Rovio has priced the physical toys competitively enough to make them a generally more attractive and affordable option for players who want to experience all the character options the game has to offer.
Microsoft will host financial analysts on Thursday for an afternoon of executive presentations and question-and-answer sessions. Here are four uncomfortable issues CEO Steve Ballmer and his lieutenants should address as they face the Wall Street crowd in Bellevue, Washington: be expected to toe the line and execute on the exiting CEO’s vision and strategy, or will the replacement get some leeway to rethink the current plans? A sweeping and controversial corporate reorganization plan was one of Ballmer’s last major moves before announcing he would retire at some undisclosed point in the coming year. While the wheels are already turning on the implementation of the changes, it’s very possible Ballmer will be gone before the process is complete. Since Ballmer’s reorganization has the blessing of the board, one would assume that the incoming CEO will be told to carry it out without major revisions. However, the reorganization plan hasn’t exactly prompted a consensus endorsement from outside observers. After all, it seeks to unify the company even more than it is today, mesh all of its parts and make sure that, for example, the Xbox team is aware of and has input into what the SQL Server team is doing, and vice versa. Ballmer calls this the “One Microsoft” vision.
The low cost wireless service provider is trying to stand out from rivals by offering a top-of-the-line phone in the form of Motorola's recently released Moto X.
Domain name provider GoDaddy acquired domain marketplace Afternic from NameMedia in a move to make it easier for small business owners to buy domain names. The acquisition is GoDaddy's fourth in the last 14 months. GoDaddy also will acquire domain parking service SmartName and business name generator NameFind from NameMedia, it said Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Afternic, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, provides a marketplace for domain owners to sell their domains. It lists more than 5 million domain names and more than 75 million domain searches are made on the site each month, according to Afternic. GoDaddy's acquisitions are part of a broader strategy to better service small businesses, said Elizabeth Driscoll, vice president of public relations at GoDaddy. The majority of the domain name provider's 12 million customers are small businesses, she said, adding that the company mainly targets businesses with about four or five employees.
A court has decided that the First Amendment covers the Facebook pages that you give thumbs up to.
, but the dream of merging phone and PC lives on. Ubuntu Touch, the form factor-spanning mobile operating system intended to power the Edge, finally has a release date: October 17, alongside Ubuntu Linux 13.10. by QA community coordinator Nicholas Skaggs. “We are exactly one month away from the release of [Ubuntu 13.10] Saucy Salamander,” Skaggs wrote on the 17th. “As part of that release, Ubuntu is committed to delivering an image of Ubuntu-Touch, ready to install on supported devices.” “Only four and a half weeks to go, and phone 1.0 will be a reality!” Minier excitedly exclaimed.
Boosting its portfolio of enterprise content management tools, IBM has acquired Daeja Image Systems and its embeddable software for viewing many different types of documents and images. , can display documents in hundreds of formats, including TIF, BMP, JPG, GIF, PDF, Excel, and PNG, either natively or through add-on modules. ViewONE’s caching capabilities can ensure exceptionally large files can be easily viewed.
to anyone who wanted to trade in an iPad for a Surface tablet. Now, the total has climbed to $350 via a new deal. It's not as simple as all that, however. Microsoft's previous offer covered "gently used" iPad 2, 3, and 4s, which users had to simply tote into a Microsoft store and redeem, in a partnership with CExchange. With the new deal, there are four steps. First, you'll need to determine how much your old devices is worth via a partnership with Clover Wireless; second, you must buy a new Microsoft device, such as Surface tablet; third, you'll need to ship Clover your old gear. Finally, after some time, Clover will send you a prepaid Visa card with the value of your trade-in stored within it. Fortunately, you can quickly determine what you'll receive if you happen to be someone who wants to swap their iPad for a Surface. A standard Apple iPad 4 (32 GB) in "good physical condition" is worth $285 in rebates, according to Microsoft, slightly less than half of its $599 retail price. Naturally, the rebate value will vary depending on the make and model of the tablet or phone being exchanged.
Microsoft yesterday acknowledged yet another problem with its Sept. 10 updates, confirming that one of those fixes broke Office 2010 Starter Edition by changing the file associations of already-created documents. Wednesday. Some customers, said Microsoft, were even told that they needed to buy a copy of the full-scale Office, which starts at $140 for Office Home & Student 2013. Naturally, that caused some customers to wig out, as their suite—Office 2010 Starter Edition—had come free with their PCs.
Because the fact that unlocking your cell phone is a crime is anti-competitive—and just plain stupid.
Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing. (malicious software) describes any piece of code designed to infect your computer (or mobile device) and make it do things that you don't want it to do, such as mass-mail spam or steal your banking passwords. Trojans, worms, and rootkits are all types of malware. , in its most technically-correct meaning. A virus is malicious code that spreads by infecting existing files, similar to the way a biological virus spreads by infecting living cells.
Yahoo’s customized landing pages get a new look as part of Yahoo’s ongoing transformation.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, but there's a veritable avalanche of free apps.
On Friday the iPhone 5s will be out on the street, and with it, Apple’s fingerprint scanning technology. There are still some concerns about how Apple is implementing and managing fingerprint authentication, but as long as the iPhone 5s doesn’t fumble completely, the new smartphone could finally spur mainstream adoption of the technology. As Apple revealed a couple of weeks ago, the home button on the new iPhone 5s is also a fingerprint scanner. Rather than using a passcode, you can now unlock the device just by holding your finger on the home button. The iPhone 5s isn’t the first mobile device with a fingerprint scanner. The Motorola Atrix included fingerprint authentication back in 2011. Apparently, even slamming the idea of using a fingerprint with a mobile device. Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at believes that the iPhone 5s fingerprint authentication could prove to be a game changer. “There are two factors that will determine the real success of this new feature, which has undeniable potential,” he says. “First, reliability and second, security—though as a security researcher, I have to say it should really be security first.”
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Depending on where you are in your upgrade cycle, getting one of the new iPhones could mean ditching your contract or paying extra money.
HP took the wraps off a raft of new Windows notebooks, tablets, and convertibles today, including the first computer to feature an embedded Leap Motion controller, which lets you manipulate interface elements with the wave of your hand. HP also announced new convertibles bearing its Pavilion and Spectre brands, and a new Bay Trail-powered tablet under the Omnibook brand. The Leap Motion controller is embedded in the wrist rest on the right side of the computer, whose full name is the Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition. The controller was very responsive during a demo earlier this week, as Kevin Wentzel, HP’s technical marketing manager for consumer PCs, waved and twisted his hands over the sensor. . “We’re not suggesting it will replace your mouse or touchscreen,” said Wenztel, “but we’re looking forward to seeing where the technology takes us. It’s early days, but we’re enthusiastic.” Pricing for the Envy 17 will be start at $1050. It will be available for preorder October 16.
Twitter is a home run for connecting directly with fans, building a social platform, and keeping the excitement going after the game ends.
Was it really just a few months ago that your biggest computer-privacy concern was making sure your employer didn’t find the college photo of you sucking on a beer bong on your Facebook page? That seems cute now. With the recent revelations that the National Security Agency may have been involved in everything from , computer privacy has taken on all the cloak-and-dagger intrigue of a John le Carré novel. If you’re like most users, for its Department of Defense and intelligence-community customers. From there, we identified seven measures that both consumers and small businesses can easily implement to protect themselves from hackers and cybercriminals—and perhaps even from the NSA. It isn’t the coolest counterintelligence technique, but good security starts with the basics, and nothing is more basic than making sure that your operating system is up-to-date. So it’s no surprise that the NSA recommends enabling automatic updates in Windows. Doing so is easy enough: First, simply navigate to
You're carrying your entire life in your pocket. Lock it down!
It's a heist neither Trevor, Franklin, nor Michael could possibly pull off: stealing $800 million, the first-day take of Take-Two's smash hit, Grand Theft Auto V. And it's not over yet. Take-Two said that while the sell-through totals set a new record for first-day sales both within the franchise and developer Rockstar Games' history, that did not take into account sales in Japan and Brazil, which haven't formally launched yet. It's also likely to be the largest first-day sales total in gaming history. The game launched only on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles. A has reached over 440,000 signatures. Versions for the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles are also expected, although neither the PC, PS4, nor Xbox One editions have been announced. “All of us at Take-Two are thrilled with the initial response to Grand Theft Auto V," Strauss Zelnick, chairman and chief executive of Take-Two, said in a statement. "Once again, the team at Rockstar Games have outdone themselves, setting the entertainment industry's new standard for creativity, innovation and excellence."
